Do you get rage when someone chews with their mouth open, bites their nails, or just repeatedly hits an object against a loud surface? Could it be that you hate the whistling sounds from a stuffy nose, or feel irritated, if someone close by, breaths heavily?
Then you probably belong to the 20% of the world’s population who suffer from misophonia, which means “hatred of sound.”
The not too well-known phenomenon is sometimes called selective sound sensitivity syndrome. A person with this condition suffers from strong and unreasonable emotional reactions to certain sounds – or the expectation that they might occur, which we reported on some time ago.
Now a man’s story has pushed the consequences of this diagnosis to a completely new level. Due to his aversion to certain sounds, Derrol Murphy has not spoken to his family – for an entire 4 years.
His misophonia revolves mostly around the sound of someone eating. This 41-year-old man just cannot keep calm when someone eats in a loud manner.
His condition is quite extreme and triggers a fight-or-flight response when it takes place.
Derrol Murphy has lived with the diagnosis for as long as he can remember, but in his early years, he thought he was crazy, writes The Mirror.
“Sounds make me fly into a rage”
He has not met his family in 4 years. Mostly because of their throat clearing and the sounds they make when they eat. Instead, Derrol spends most of his time with his colleague and lover Kurt Vin, 41.
They have created a relationship after laying the cards, about the misophonia, on the table early on.
“I thought I was crazy for many years. Little noises would make me just fly into a rage. People don’t understand it, and I can’t explain it. It’s affected relationships, especially people I’ve been dating and family members, because you take it out on the people closest to you. After all, you think they should understand.” Derrol said while explaining he is not an aggressive person at all.
“I’ve had to walk out on dates if they are chewing really loudly, my face gives it away – I pull a look of disgust I can’t hide. The rustling of plastic bags drives me absolutely crazy, and I haven’t been to the movies for more than 10 years because people opening food bags is a very bad trigger.”
Solved it with a “warning sign”
For the relationship with his boyfriend to last, the couple has developed a warning sign.
“When Kurt chews, his jaw clicks, and when we first started dating, he was eating with his mouth open on the first date. I thought there was no way it would work and had to tell him pretty quickly. But Kurt will now shout to cover my ears so I can brace myself.
“Misophonia contributed to the breakdown of my relationship with my ex, so it’s huge that Kurt is so understanding. Most people say they understand, but he just has to look at my face to know when noise is getting to me.”
According to a study from Newcastle University in 2014, as many as 20% of the world’s population may have symptoms related to this condition.
Do you know someone who is always annoyed by little sounds? Then tag that person on Facebook, or share this interesting article with your loved ones!
